I’ve long admired former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko for her fiery rhetoric and steely nerve. But even as she languishes in prison, Tymoshenko might be about to engineer her most significant political coup yet: a boycott of the upcoming Euro 2012 soccer tournament by European governments.

Supporters of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko hold a rally before the hearings on Tymoshenko's appeal against her jail sentence outside a court building in Kievlast December. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

With the signature blond braid that sits – crown-like – above her head and her glamorous, almost regal bearing, one could easily mistake Tymoshenko for pure political window dressing. But that would seriously underestimate this woman’s power and influence. Tymoshenko played a major role – alongside her onetime ally Viktor Yushchenko – in spearheading Ukraine’s 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution. Subsequently, she served as prime minister of the country from 2007 to 2010, when she narrowly lost an election to current president Viktor Yanukovich.

Tymoshenko’s fortunes changed last year when she was jailed for seven years over a controversial natural gas deal with Russia during her tenure as prime minister. Many – including Tymoshenko herself – viewed her arrest and imprisonment as a crackdown on political opposition in the Ukraine as well as retribution by Yanukovich against his main political rival.

Which is where soccer enters the picture. Along with Poland, Ukraine is meant to host the prestigious Euro 2012 next month, the main football (soccer) competition among European teams. The Euro Cup is held every four years, alternating (every two years) with the World Cup. As my son – an avid football fan – put it to me recently, he’s looking more forward to the launch of Euro 2012 in June than he is to the summer Olympics in July. Such is football fever here in Europe.

Except that the competition might not go off quite as planned.

In short order, government after government in Europe has come out saying that they will not attend the Euro Cup in the Ukraine unless Tymoshenko’s conditions and treatment improve. European Commission head José Manuel Barroso has already refused to attend the tournament, and on Wednesday, Holland and Austria added themselves to this list. Merkel is thought to be considering a similar boycott by Germany. Additionally, six European presidents decided not to travel to a summit in Ukraine next week, and Germany has also said it may block a pending E.U.-Ukraine political and trade deal if Kiev is seen to be showing contempt for the rule of law.

Ukrainian officials deny that Tymoshenko has been beaten and have publicly criticized what they see as the West’s intervention in their internal political affairs. “We would not like to think that the political leaders of Germany are capable of reviving the methods of the Cold War and making sport a hostage of politics,” spokesman Oleg Voloshin said to the BBC.

EUFA cup officials insist that the games will still go on as planned, even if European governments choose not to attend. But if Merkel throws her force behind the boycott – and whoever wins the upcoming French presidential elections does as well – there will be lots of pressure on British Prime Minister David Cameron to follow suit.

That will make quite a political statement. And hopefully, Tymoshenko will get the medical attention that she deserves.

Delia Lloyd, a former correspondent for Politics Daily, is an American journalist based in London. She blogs about adulthood at www.realdelia.com and you can follow her on Twitter @realdelia.